The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Seventy One

At first, I was not sure whether he was Volo. He never told me how to distinguish a deity who was reborn as a human before he became one, so I had no clue at all at what I should be expecting. All I know was that once a deity becomes a human, they will become someone who has a strong will. But that did not help me too, so all I have is my hunch.

I was surprised when I learned from my Gypsies that Volo went to Plumba and killed himself there. That was not what I was expecting from him. I know that he wanted to be reborn as a human as soon as possible so that at least one of us would be ready when Kentan comes back as a deity, (especially that Volo treasures the Aurean Royal Family as if he was a part of that family too) but I did not expect him to do that now. It caught me off guard.

“The people want to see you badly, my dear deity,” said Ova to me one time.

“Why? What is the matter?”

“They are just wondering when the great deity of winter will come back.”

“Tell them that it might take time,” I replied. “At the next meeting of the Council, tell them that he is just away for an important mission.”

“The King is worried, my dear deity,” Ova added. “I don’t think that he will be convinced by whatever I am going to say to him and the rest of the council. I think it will be best for you to show up at the Palace, even at least just once.”

Ova had a point. I think I should really come to the meeting, as this was also starting to get out of hand. And they would keep on pestering me if I did not show up to them. They would think that I am hiding something from them. So it might be best for everyone for me to be nicer to them even just this once.

So when I went to the Palace, the young Queen greeted me happily. She was the one who was most excited by my presence, as she seemed to be trying to gain my favor. Before the meeting, she lingered in my presence and had a chit chat with me as if we were close. Normally, it would have irritated me, but I was trying to be lenient on them.

“Now that we don’t have winter, it feels weird and incomplete, my dear deity,” she shared with a melancholic disposition. “The animals that should have been hibernating by now were confused. A lot of them attacked villagers and small children. While the others died off. The salmon did not come back to our rivers too. It caused us a lot of trouble already.”

“I know,” I told her rather coldly. “But that can’t be helped. We need to wait for Volo to come back.”

“But is it true, my dear deity?” she asked curiously. “Is it true that the great deity of winter had become a human?”

I nodded and the young Queen gasped with astonishment. “And he did that to protect this kingdom from the deity that we know as Kentan.” I told her what I know, and this made the young Queen of Aurea burst with equal amounts of joy and sadness. Of course, she was delighted to know that the deity that they have put their faith with had done something great like that for them, but she was also scared of the possibilities that the future may bring. It confused me when she started sobbing though. I almost thought that she was intoxicated again, but that was impossible. I guess that's just how she reacts to things. Humans are way too emotional and its throwing me off a lot of the time.

“I’m so sorry if I am like this, my dear deity,” she said to me covering her flushed face. I think she just realized how pathetic she looked right now. “I just feel so sad about the fact that the great deity of winter had to do that for us. He had to take the matter into his own hands because he could not trust us. The enchanted mirror that you gave us… the one that can detect if a human is a deity reborn as a mortal or not… we have been checking all the newly born babies but still, we have not found the child which that onerous deity of the sea become--- we are failures, so the great deity of winter had no choice but to do that… That was our job… our responsibility… but we let him down…”

“I don’t know what to say about that anymore…” I told her honestly. “Because if I am going to be honest with you, I hated the fact that Volo is serving you as if he owes you something. I had told him a lot of times before that getting too close with you mortals the way he is doing it will weaken him… And I guess I am right…”

This made the Queen cry harder. She was crying loudly that it was starting to annoy me, but then she went silent again and looked at me with pleading eyes. “My dear deity, do you think he will come back someday? Do you think that we will still live the day that he returns? I have heard rumors… that deities who go through that process does not mean that they are going to be born immediately. What if the great deity of winter is born let us say… a hundred years from now? What will happen to us by then?”

“Don’t be too selfish,” I scolded her, disappointed that she was still thinking of themselves even if she was worrying about Volo’s return. “And where did you pick up that nonsense? Who told you that?”

“Oh...that? I just dreamed of it.”

One of my eyebrows rose from that. “You dreamed that?”

She nodded again, wiping her tears unashamedly. “I have been dreaming about things like that, my dear deity. Ever since I became the Queen… I have been dreaming of a life where I was a deity too… And in that dream, other deities had told me about the consequences of turning into a mortal.”

I could not believe what I was hearing. Was this possible? What makes this possible? “You mean you were imagining through your dreams that you became a deity. Did I hear you right?”

She nodded. “That’s correct, my dear deity. I have been dreaming of those kinds of things. But I have no control over it. I don’t even want to become a deity… I mean, not to be rude in your presence right now, but I dreaded that thing to happen the most…”

“And why is that?” I asked, surprised that someone would not like to become a deity, even if it is just in the dream.

“Well… I just thought that it must be lonely to become a deity… I mean, you are alone forever. And you can’t even mingle with mortals too much because that would be excruciatingly painful for an immortal.”

“And why do you think that it will be that painful?”

“You can’t be close to mortals and be attached to them, my dear deity. Because if you do, you will just get hurt. You will not die just like us, so you will remain in here forever. It is a curse. But that is just my honest opinion, my dear deity. Please spare me from any type of punishment from what I said---”

“I’ll pretend that I did not understand what you meant by that,” I just said. “But that part where you said that you had been dreaming of a life in which you were also a deity… That is what I won’t be able to just let pass me. I find it too suspicious…”

She looked more confused than ever when I said that. “What do you mean by that, my dear deity? Why is it so suspicious for you?”

“I am not quite sure yet,” I replied, “but I have this feeling that something is wrong with dreaming that you are a deity. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels odd.”

“I am deeply sorry if that offended you, my dear dei---”

I shook my head. “Oh no, I was not offended. I just felt uncomfortable with it and it is not because of you. Just don’t mind me… Maybe I am not just used to humans like you talking about things like that for I forbid my Gypsies to tell me stories like that…”

That made the young Queen apologize more, and I had to reassure her at least three times that I was not angry at what she just shared. I was just taken aback, but not in a harsh way. Meanwhile, at the meeting of the council which I attended, the King saw to it that they would find the child that had been born as the human using the enchanted mirror that I gave them from Glass jewels of Light that came from the volcano. Most of them felt relieved when I finally told them what is the reason behind Volo’s disappearance. And just like what Ova predicted, they only believed the story when they heard it from my mouth. Even the King was satisfied with what I said, and he wished that Volo would come back soon. The absence of winter here in Aure was taking its toll on the people in many ways that I did not even imagine.

There was not much to talk about during the meeting, except that they wanted me to bless a school that they have just built. They wanted me to light the ceremonial fire as the sign of the start of the school year. They told me that the flames on the ceremonial torch means new beginnings, so I suggested to name the school as Fire Academy. Everyone agreed on that, and they even carved my bird form in the arch leading inside the school.

After the meeting was adjourned, one of the members of the council went up to me respectfully and talked to me. Ova wanted to shoo him away, but I let the man talk to me. “Let him talk, Ova. He is a relative of yours, right? Don’t be too harsh on your kin.”

“I’m sorry, my dear deity… I just don’t like what he wants to tell you.”

“Why? What does he want from me?”

“It is nothing important, my dear deity. It is just about that golden ship that sank in the bay of Plumba. They finally found it where it sank and they wanted to take it as it is considered a treasure. But I told them that you might get angry if they took it, so they are now trying to ask you permission if you will allow them to take that golden ship.”

“Is that so? Then let me talk to that man. He is the Mayor of Plumba, right? Then I need to talk to him too.”

Though surprised, Ova followed my orders and I was now in one of the Palace’s balconies, talking to the Mayor of Plumba. He was shy and scared of what I might tell him, but he was brave enough to ask me about the golden ship.

“Why do you want that golden ship? That is too much treasure for you, Mister. I might not have been the friendliest of the deities but I am aware that there is a Royal Law that stops anyone from amassing such a huge amount of wealth.”

“Oh, my plan is not like that at all, my dear deity,” said the man who I found out was named Rico. “I am planning to chop the golden ship into parts and share it with the people of Plumba so that everyone will have money. As you see, there is no winter this year so a lot of the families in Plumba who were anticipating the influx of tourists when the lake and the bay freezes have lost the source of their earnings, so I had to make a way. And we found the ship. I was told that it was somehow connected to you so I dared to come here and ask you about it. I don’t want to take it out from the bottom of the sea if that will upset you.”

I had to change my mind as I did not know what to do with it now that I know that people lost their means of earning money as the winter never came. Even the fishermen were severely affected as some of the fish species only breed during winter just like the salmon that Plumba and the nearby towns are known for when it comes to seafood. A lot of families will be hungry, including some relatives of my Gypsies so I had decided on what to do.

“Okay, you may take the gold out of the water where it sank, but stick to your promise. Chop it into parts and make sure that it will never be built again.”

Rico was ecstatic because of that. “Thank you, my dear deity! Thank you for understanding and hearing my plea!”

I nodded at him. “But you have to keep your promise. That ship is cursed. It should never be built again. Follow my rules and I will be fine.”

Rico nodded enthusiastically. “You don’t have to worry about that, my dear deity! I have a plan!”

“And what is that?”

“I will keep the most important part of that ship. I will hide its steering wheel with my life as if it depended on its safety.”

“Very well. Protect and hide it at all cost or else I will lay a curse on you and your family,” I said as a stern warning for him. He seemed to be trustworthy though, so I had no reservations with what I just let him do to that sunken ship.

Days, weeks, and years passed by and it was almost the time for my annual hibernation, as winter should have been here already, but as Volo was still missing, it almost feels like I was kidding myself. The people of Aure had already adjusted to the situation, and they were now praying to me instead of Volo. I would have given everything just for him to come back already as the humans had started pestering me even for simple matters. But I have to continue my ‘watch’ as there were no other options now for me. I was the only remaining deity here in Aure. I was about to rest here inside my volcano when I heard footsteps and a voice in here.

It was of a man… a young man, and I could hear what he was talking to someone.

“Why are we even here?” said another voice. It was also a male’s. “This is an active volcano. It might erupt anytime. And haven’t you heard that the Scarlet Phoenix lives here? What if she sees us? She will burn us into ashes.”

“Shut up, Romy. You should have just stayed at the cabin if you’re chickening out.”

“I am not chickening out, Nievo. I just know how to respect a deity’s residence.”

“But that is why we are here,” said the one who was probably called Nievo to his scaredycat friend who was named Romy. “We want to see for ourselves if there is really a deity here.”

“And there really is!” said Romy. “Everyone knows that! They do exist! So please, let us just go home. We don’t want to earn their wrath, you know.”

“No, I am staying. I want to meet her,” said the young man named Nievo and I decided to appear in front of him. I gasped when I saw him. He looks so much like Volo!